Alone
by Arkanyne
Summary: The world uses us. The only choice we have is if we heed its happening. AU OC. Sexual content in later chapters. New chapters when they are written. M/M.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: _

/-/ _indicates a POV change._

_Rocket_.

For the people of Kanto, this word does not conjure the image of astronauts among the stars. It symbolizes pain, anger, suffering and many untold evils. For the people of Kanto, it symbolizes _reality._ Enraged by the SWAT Team raid that ended in Giovanni's untimely death, the loyal Rocket goons started a campaign of terror and hatred against Kanto. They started by firebombing and taking over the entirety of Pallet and Viridian. Instead of spreading out past Route 2, they instead focused their attention on Victory Road and the Pokemon League. When the invasion happened, the Pokemon Rangers were dispatched to keep everything under control.

Well, not anymore. Most of them are trying to keep order in cities as the fighting intensifies near the Pokemon League. It's like a warzone.

And I'm up to my neck in it.

My name is Alex. I'm 16, and a Pokemon Ranger. Well, not really, more like a Ranger-in-training, as I haven't got any of my Pokemon yet, but all my colleagues went ahead, just telling me to keep watch for refugees. It's been like that for a few weeks now, I haven't seen anyone and the radio antenna was broken in a storm a few weeks back. I'm on the Mt Moon end of Route 2, which is slightly heartening as the Rockets would have to wade through miles of pissed-off wildlife to get to me.

I mean, it's not the bad weather or the awful MREs or the self-imposed training drills that get to me. It's just that I'm so _alone._ Some days I don't see as much as a single Pokemon. I haven't seen anything remotely impressive for what seems like forever, just the Pidgey that tend to nest around here.

Of course, there's enough food to last several lifetimes and more than enough guns and ammo here to have several Rangers man this base. The Rangers must have been really stretched thin to send a cadet, _a lowly cadet,_ out here to man this post, which was little more than a wooden shack.

The sun started to rise. Having a routine now, Alex hit the button labelled 'ALARM OFF' on his alarm clock and got out of the bottom layer of a bunk bed. He quickly got dressed into his 'uniform' (he wasn't issued one, this was just what he wore for ease) which consisted of a standard white T-Shirt, a trench coat that was a bit too large vertically for him, denim jeans and boots.

He needed the boots and trench coat, of course, because it got very rainy out there, and he was expected to patrol around the vicinity every day or so to see if there were any refugees.

He picked up his semi-automatic rifle, attached with a sling and used to sling to put it around his shoulder and set off on his morning patrol. The path was quite wooded, now, and nature had taken over a large portion of the Route. It was like people didn't exist anymore – he'd go back to Cerulean if he could, but he was under strict orders to stay here. The mud and the bushes and the trees, all thoroughly memorized to Alex, provided a sort of meditative quality. Satisfied that his patrol was over, He then travelled towards what he liked to call the vantage point. Really, it was just a cliff-like hill that the base was built under, which gives a good view. There wasn't any civilization for miles out here.

A while later, after Alex was almost staring out to the horizon when he heard a _crack._ More specifically, a twig snapping. He quickly turned around to notice a bush behind him. These areas were often filled with typical Weedle or the occasional dead Pidgey so this was quite unusual for such a heavy footstep to be heard. Assuming it was a Rocket member, he drew the rifle from his sling and aimed it down the iron sights. He entered into the forest area, through a canopy of vines. But what he saw was not an enemy soldier. Or much of anything that stuck out, really. Apart from a conspicuous blue and red tail sticking out from behind a nearby rock. _That's a Lucario tail.._ Alex thought to himself as he considered going over there.

This was against orders, as he was not supposed to go into the forest, but he disregarded them because this pokemon looked like he needed help. He rounded the rock so he could see the body. It looked quite bad. There were quite deep cuts, scratch wounds and what even looked like a gunshot wound, partially healed, all over his body and a good deal of bruises. This looked quite bad, and Alex could see that the pokemon was in a good deal of visible pain. The rifle that Alex was un-knowingly pointing at his head wasn't helping, so he quickly put it back over his shoulder. The Lucario relaxed somewhat at this.

Alex got onto one knee and saw how bad the wounds for the Lucario truly were. He moved to help the poor creature up but It growled and bit him. The Lucario was still quite weak, but it still hurt and even drew blood. "Ow!" Alex exclaimed. "Look, I'm only going to try and help you. If I leave you here, you'll die. You're going to have to trust me.." At this, the Lucario seemed to calm somewhat and shakily offered his hand to help him get up. He helped him up but then the Lucario's legs faltered and he almost dropped to the floor. Alex then picked the Lucario up, thinking that his legs would be too weak to support him. The Lucario didn't resist at all. After a few minutes' walk he got back to the base. It was a small, wooden shack which consisted of three rooms, a bedroom, the living room-style area and a bathroom. It had a reasonable size, really, not what Alex was used to in Cerulean but you got used to it after a week or two.

He laid down the Lucario on the sofa, and then sat down on the chair next to it. The Lucario was awake now, and he was shivering somewhat_. The temperature here is quite low_, Alex thought, and with that got up. The Lucario whined gently as he noticed that Alex was leaving but relaxed quickly when he came back with a lighter. A lighter! The Lucario tensed up a lot when he saw the lighter but relaxed when he saw that it was Alex lighting the fire. Seeing this, Alex put away the lighter as soon as possible, not wanting to alarm the poor, destitute Lucario.

The Lucario looked pretty beat up. Now that he's in the light, and lying down as well, Alex could see his injuries. He wasn't actively bleeding but his wounds did look quite bad. "What.. what happened to you?" Alex asked. The lucario started to cry, as this probably reminded of him of what had happened to him. Alex sat down next to the Lucario and placed his hand on the Lucario's shoulder, who was lying on his side with his back to the back of the sofa. Gathering that the Lucario's injuries were pretty vicious. "You're safe now... " he said, to try and calm him down.

Alex remembered that in his education, he read that Lucarios could talk over Aura or Wave Speech or something. "Can, can you talk?" he asked. The Lucario seemed to think for a second or two before shaking his head. Alex didn't know why that was but he just decided to go with it. But he did know something for certain: the Lucario's wounds needed cleaning. "Your wounds are going to get infected if they don't get clean."

The Lucario seemed intelligent enough to allow Alex to clean his wounds and put some bandages on: They seemed a bit dirty but a bit of disinfectant soon solved that. Now that the risk of infection, at least for now, was stayed, Alex could try to talk to the Lucario. Well, he would, but the Lucario can't talk back so he just decided to tell him who he was and why he was there. The fire was starting to heat up the room somewhat, and the Lucario was no longer shivering. "I guess I should tell you about me, huh?" Alex said, while sitting on the chair next to the Lucario. The Lucario nodded. "My name is Alex. I'm a Ranger, or at least a conscripted one, hah." For the Lucario, things made sense now. A Ranger! Rangers were known to be trustworthy, and they were trained to always try and help the wild Pokemon wherever possible. They had quite extensive weapons training and often they were called upon to participate in whatever the war of the moment was.

Most of them came back decorated for 'exemplary bravery and service shown to Kanto'. Very few died.

"About a month ago, I was sent here to watch for refugees from Viridian. The rest of my squad went ahead. Around one or two weeks ago, though, there was a massive storm and the radio antenna broke. I've been trying to fix it ever since. Sort of given up on it, though. I mean, it's exactly as it was before, but there's just nothing! No transmissions! It's weird..." Lucario nodded. "Cario." He said, as if to agree. "I grew up in Viridian City, I was moved away, around 2 years ago over to Cerulean. My parents didn't move with me for... whatever reason, but everything was fine for a while. Living in Pokemon Centers, which, at least back then, provided a place to sleep and food every day for someone who had a licence. I had a Pokemon, yeah. A little Growlithe. But when I ''volunteered'' for the Rangers, and by volunteered I mean my name was pulled from a hat, the poor thing was sent to a rehoming center while I was shipped off to the training corps." Alex explained, looking out of the window opposite the sofa. "When I got here, I was basically the runt of the squad. I was basically always left behind and now I'm here, I guess. Arceus knows what happened to them, back In Viridan.." Alex said. The Lucario was deep in concentration now, obviously listening quite hard to Alex.

"They may be dead. Hell, everyone may be dead. I haven't seen a living thing – apart from you, and some birds – for weeks. What hurt you so much, anyway? Am I in danger?" Alex asked. The Lucario looked away from him as if in shame and not wishing to talk about that. "Oh. Sorry.." Lucario nodded, as if to forgive him.

The sun was setting now, and was starting to rain. "I'm going to go to sleep now; I feel quite tired. There's a double bunk so neither of us has to sleep on the sofa, ok?" Alex said.

He left the room, and climbed onto the top bunk of the bed. He usually slept on the bottom, but considering that the Lucario was injured, he probably wasn't in the best condition to climb.

He quickly fell into sleep. Around a few minutes later, he heard the Lucario going to bed as well. Whimpers were heard throughout the night. Probably nightmares. Alex couldn't blame him, the wounds on him looked pretty grievous and he saw some not-yet-healed bruises on his body that must have came from a few months ago.

/-/

_Where is he?_

_My little slave.. escaped?_

The darkened figure takes a hold of his M1911.

_This'll be fun.. it's always more fun when they squeal._

The shadowy person gets up, stops looking at the cage of chains that once contained a Lucario.

A/N: _Fun times._ Shit gon' get real bleak, real fast.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N_ Who turned off the lights?

Yeah, the narrative's fucked on this chapter. Couldn't really think of a better way to think about it. In this chapter, Italics define another character's perspective. Guess who... But, coincidentally, Italics also reflect sounds and thoughts, but I hope it will be clear which means which. **Please note that this chapter contains a brief depiction of rape. Please do not view this chapter if you view this as offensive**.This was sort of an experiment in narrative and building tension and suspense. Please review and tell me if this is a good tension-builder! Thanks for reading!

Another day, Another dawn. Alex gently woke up, and tried to roll off his bed. but he didn't realize he was sleeping on the top layer and almost fell off. He went over the edge but ended up recovering himself by grabbing onto the top bar and climbing down. The Lucario was evidently awake and was quietly snickering to himself. When he saw Alex looking at him, he shrivelled and gave him a apologetic look.

_Where is it? My pet?_

Landing on the ground with pretty much no noise, Alex said, "You don't need to be afraid, lucario. I'm not going to hurt you. I don't know where you came from, or what they did to you, _whoever or whatever they are,_ but you're safe here. An equal, of sorts." the Lucario smiled somewhat.

_Those tracks..Boots? A human?_

Lucario now gets up off of the bed, standing next to Alex. "Do you feel well enough to help?" Alex said. the Lucario eagerly nodded. "Well, that floor won't scrub itself!" Alex joked, laughing to himself. the Lucario jumped at this and started looking for a mop. "That was a joke, Lucario.. One of your ribs is probably fractured from that massive bruise on your chest. You could come along with me on the patrol, I guess. There's nothing here of any danger now." the Lucario nodded.

_TWO slaves ... That'd be nice, very nice, just one just gets a bit... tired.. after a while.._

"Do you want some coffee?" Alex asked. The Lucario didn't seem to know what coffee was. "It's nice," Alex says, and got two black mugs out. "There's no more of the... 'proper' coffee left anymore, so we'll have to make do with Instant.." Alex thinks to himself. A rather loud kettle whistle later which seemed to hurt the Lucario's sensitive easrs, which Alex apologised for pretty quickly. The result of this was two delicious, steaming mugs of coffee. He gave one mug to the Lucario who downed it pretty quickly. He seemed to like it. "I guess you like it, huh?" Alex said, quietly sipping away at his.

_Feeding it coffee? Almost as if he sees the mongrel as.. human?_

_I'll enjoy breaking him in.._

A while later, Alex had finished. "There are a lot of things that I have to do, and most of them I didn't really have time to do because I found you.." the Lucario's ears dropped and he looked a bit embarrassed. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. With two people, it'll be faster, right?" Alex said. The Lucario looked outside. He looked quite... at unease, but he seemed to shrug it off.

The Lucario followed Alex outside on his patrol. Alex was just going up to the Vantage point to see if there was anyone nearby, and the Lucario followed him. Alex heard another twig _snap_ right behind him and before he knew it, he felt a sharp pain in his back and his world went black.

At hearing this noise, the Lucario jumped. And then he saw _him_. His _captor_. And worse..

This shocked the Lucario into silence and he just stood there, scared to death. The kidnapper just looked on, smiling to the Lucario. "I'm very dissapointed in you, slave, running away like that." the desperation started to build in the Lucario, leading the Lucario's subconcious to shout, "Alex! Help!" over Aura. Aura is much like talking. When not refined, everyone in a certain area can hear it, but when it is trained, you can talk one-to-one.

The kidnapper smiled evilly. "You can talk? good, good." He started to walk towards the scared canine and tried to grab his arm. the Lucario tried to resist with a Force palm but the kidnapper kneed the lucario in the crotch before the attack was fully charged. the Lucario doubled over and fell over in pain, but the kidnapper tried to wrench him back up to his feet through his elbow.

_Alex! Help!_

The words echoed through Alex's unconcious mind, which disturbed him enough to awaken him. He was quite dazed still but he could see what was going on. Alex moved his hand down to his jacket to see if he had had the good sense to put his knife there.

Turns out, he did. He got a hold of the handle of the knife. He held it in his hand. It felt weighty, the equivalent of a army-issue knife. It had a hook on the edge of the handle, which must be for mounting it to something. Despite the searing pain in his back he slowly moved towards the kidnapper. He had moved his trousers down and looked like he was forcing the Lucario's head into his crotch.

Alex was disgusted at this and started to move forward. He was just behind the kidnapper when he seemed to notice him. He moved his head around but then Alex made a split second descision and sunk the knife directly into the spinal column, removing the connection of the head to the spine, killing him instantly. The Lucario hadn't realized what happened apart from his arms suddenly went limp and his body started falling toward him. He made a whimper and tried to push the now dead weight off of him. Alex helped move the body, despite being in such pain.

The Lucario was somewhat calmed by sight of Alex, but then he saw the body. With the knife sticking out of the back, completely hilted. The Lucario gasped and crawled away in panic. Alex tried to reassure the Lucario, but the lucario simply shouted over Aura, "Get away!"

It was then that Alex realized something.

Lucario could..speak?

"It's okay, Lucario.. Please don't panic. He's dead. You don't have to worry anymore." Alex said, giving the Lucario his hand to help him up. The Lucario took his hand, and Alex helped him up.

"...Thanks.." the Lucario said, looking away, almost as if in shame. Alex placed a hand on his shoulder. "You don't need to be ashamed. It's okay." Alex says. The Lucario then does something unexpected and then hugs Alex. Alex could feel the Lucario's warm fur and his tearstained muzzle pressing onto his shoulder. "Thank you..." he says in a weak voice. It was then, that Alex realized that Alex didn't have a chest spike. Or any other spikes, for that matter. Alex didn't broach the subject as he guessed that the spikes were pretty important in Lucario culture.

"We should go home.. we'll be alright there. The rest of my- our, jobs can wait." Alex says, leading the Lucario home by holding his hand. When they got home, the Lucario sat down on the sofa and looked pretty..disturbed, to say the least. His face was buried in his hands.

Alex said, "I'll make some coffee, hm?" The Lucario nodded and smiled somewhat.

/-/

_Hoenn News. The lastest info, all the time._

_"Today, we are interviewing a professional geologist to explain why there have been no signals from Kanto in over two weeks."_

_"So, Jason, Why do you think that there have been no signals, ships, or planes from Kanto?"_

_"Well, Sarah, there are many things that could influence this. There are natural occurences from the sun that can cause a E.M.P, or ElectroMagnetic Pulse, that could fry circuitry. This has only happened once, however, in Orre. In fact, Orre still has not fully recovered from that disaster."_

_"But.. admittedly, the greatest possibility is in fact that Team Rocket has finally succeeded in taking over the Region."_

_Sarah is taken aback._

_"That certainly does seem like the most likely... Is it true that the Hoenn National Defence Alliance, or HNDA for short, has been scanning Kanto for any motion detected?" _

_"Yes, this is true. The way that we do it is that the satellite will detect any motion and then refer it over to a human to judge if it's worth investigating."_

_"Have you found any leads?"_

_"I'm authorized to say that unfortunately we have not."_

_"Are the searches complete?"_

_"Far from it. We've only completed a few cities, towns, or routes. But from what we see now, the entirety of Kanto has just...dissapeared. the Buildings are there. The cars are there. Everything's there. But no people, or Pokemon. It's eerie."_

_"Do you have a estimated time of completion for the search?"_

_"A few weeks or so. We are currently in progress of organizing evacuation helicopters for those who may have survived."_

_"That's all the time we have, Jason. This was Hoenn News. The lastest info, All the time."_

A/N: Well, well. Hope ye all enjoyed it. Next chapter is next month, but earlier if there's enough demand.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I'm not very good at writing vulnerable characters.

Things will get brighter and less dark from now on.

Perhaps.

Maybe.

notpromisinganythingatallpleasedon'teatmeD:

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Alex quickly stopped the kettle before it could boil and hurt the Lucario's ears. "What's your name, Lucario? Just calling you Lucario seems a bit... wierd. Like you calling me human."

The Lucario seemed to be in thought for a moment before replying "_My previous trainer... he called me Riley."_

"Riley then. That's a nice name. If you want to talk about what happened, you can-" Alex was then cut off by Riley. "_It's no problem, really. I mean, He's dead now. Nothing that he can do can hurt me anymore._" Alex nods in agreement, "_It all started around two years ago. I was hatched as a little Riolu. My trainer hatched me and took good care of me. He was a really good trainer, and he knew then to stop my training or to push me a bit harder when I was just about to make a breakthrough._

_One day, when we were training in the woods, I finally learned Force Palm! I was so happy that I evolved into a Lucario right there and then. But the bright light must have attracted, attracted him..._" The Lucario stops, as he is seemingly on the edge of crying.

"You don't have to say any more, Riley.." Alex says, feeling sorry for the Lucario before him. He handed the Lucario one of the two warm mugs of coffee, which he eagerly drank from. As he was speaking over Aura, he didn't need to use his mouth to speak; so he continued. "_He then fought my trainer. I tried to help, but... he.. sent out a powerful Staravia.. The only move I had really perfected was Force Palm. I ended up killing the creature, but I was heavily wounded, and by then, my.. ex-captor had finished fighting my trainer. He was completely unprepared- It was ironic, really. One of the reasons that we came out there was for me to train him to fight."_ The Lucario, now seemingly calmer, had finished his coffee by now. Alex was still drinking his. "_After that, I just didn't have the energy to fight. I collapsed right then and there. He kept me in such a place that I could see the outside. He kept me there for... 26 moons."_ Alex was very shocked by this. "26 full moons? that's around... 25 months, which is just above two years! Oh Arceus, I'm so sorry..", he said. The overall mood in the room was brought down to a more solemn tone. "_And then, one day, after he was... finished.. with me, he got so drunk he forgot to lock my cage. I sneaked out when he was asleep in his stupor, and escaped. He had got a bit..rough.. with me that night, and that's why I was in the state I was."_

The Lucario stopped for a minute, to a look outside through the window. "_It is beautiful outside. Being.. trapped, there, it gave me time to think. It's surprising how much you yearn to wander when unable to."_ The Lucario spoke, introspectively. The fire was roaring by now, giving a soft, gentle yellow light to the room. "I just don't know.." Alex said. "I don't know if anyone's coming. If anyone knows we're here." Alex finishes, sadly.

/-/

_This is Base, calling Razor 4-19; Satellite 'Aegis' has picked up another potential signature. 2 clicks north of Viridian City, kanto. Priority 4 Callsign 050._

_"Copy that, Base, S&R craft Razor 4-19 is inbound just after we check Callsign 049."_

/-/

A faint vibration was felt overhead, causing Alex to get up off of the sofa next to the Lucario and go outside. The darkness had fully taken over the sky, but Alex could recognise the sound. _A helicopter._ Riley had followed him outside, too. "There's a helicopter..."

"_But it's not going this way._" Riley unhelpfully chimed in. "I know that!" said Alex, quickly following up with "They might come for us tomorrow... we should just sit tight and wait. I can't wait to see people again... No offence." Riley didn't take any.

He couldn't be happier.

/-/

_Hoenn News. The latest news, All the time._

_New reports are coming in about terrorist attacks in Sinnoh. Details on this are unclear at the moment, but it seems as though a Charizard has suicide-bombed Hearthome City with what seemed to be a thermonuclear weapon. The authorities are henceforth considering anyone to be in the area of the attack, namely Hearthome itself, as well as Pastoria City, Solaceon City, Veilstone City, Eterna City, and Oreburgh City. Lake Valour has also been contaminated. Authorities are evacuating Sinnoh, with the total list of cities to be evacuated: Sunyshore City, the Fight Area island, Jubilife City, Canalave City, Floaroma City, and Twinleaf and Sandgem towns. Snowpoint is the only place that is seemingly clear of radiation, thanks to ._

_Team Rocket has claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that "they have declared war on the Regions and as they have eliminated two, they are fully capable of eliminating the rest." There is no idea as to the whereabouts of the current Team Rocket leader, Giovanni. He was suspected to have died in an explosion near a science facility, but this has now been pulled into question thanks to several witnesses not being able to testify, and evidence seems to have been stolen. _

_Cleanup operations are now underway, but the latest estimate for Sinnoh to be habitable again is by 2050, thanks to the prototype radiation-removal system shX, which will be able to co-ordinate radiation teams and assist in real-time._

_More on this later._

_In other news, more and more lifesigns have been found inside Kanto. Authorities are alarmed, however, at the perplexing fact that when the evacuation teams have arrived, the survivors were all dead. A biological virus is suspected. _

_Hoenn News. The latest news, All the time._

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter! This is mainly a exposition dump, setting things up for later.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N:

Well, here it is. Chapter 4. What started off as just another idea has seemingly sprouted into its own full-fledged story.

To be honest, I'm not really sure where I'm going with this, either. I'm just getting to grips with my new writing style as I haven't written for, well, best part of a year. Please be patient. D:

Reviews are _always_ appreciated!

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The blades of the helicopter rotated, cutting down some stray vegetation in its way. The noise had awoken Alex and Riley, who had fallen asleep on the sofa: Riley was leaning his head in Alex's chest while Alex was sleeping in a slumped sitting position. Riley woke up first, noticing the position he was, blushed. He quickly moved his head from Alex's chest just before Alex woke up. He felt the warmth and softness of his chest suddenly leave him, however, so he knew what Riley had done.

He decided to not talk about it. Instead, his converstaion was focused on the helicopter outside. "I told you it was true!" Alex said. He had on his uniform, and made sure to bring his ID card so that he could tell the evac team who he was. They were both out of there in less than a minute, with Alex bringing his holstered weapon. It was on a sling on his back. When the evacuation team saw this, however, they seemed to tense, bringing their weapons to bear. But eventually, they realized that Alex was not a threat at all. He looked young. Tall, more than normal, but very young.

The man who must have been in charge of the operation came up to him. Alex gave him a salute, and said, "Alex Roberts, Ranger. Conscript. Seria-" Alex was cut off by the commander. "Your serial number is on this card, here. Who's this creature with you?" "It's a Lucario, Sir. I saved him, Sir." Alex didn't like saying Sir to those of higher rank, but it was something he was trained to do, so he did it. He wasn't given much firearms training yet, however. They just left him there to learn as he goes on, I guess.

"That Lucario may be dangerous. We won't be able to allow you to take it on board." "_No!_" Riley used his aura speech. "Sir! I can personally assure you that this Lucario is not dangerous, sir!" The commander was quite annoyed at this but decided to let it slide, seeing as he's so young. "Alright, get in. Both of you." Alex smiled. "Yes Sir!"

"_I don't like him.."_ Riley told Alex personally, as the helicopter lifted off. "Everyone else we found was dead! We found survivors, but, bam, as soon as we got there, they were all dead! Shot straight between the eyes." One of the soldiers spoke. "I guess I'm lucky, then.." Alex replied. "But you're in the Rangers! Aren't they supposed to be crack shots?" the soldier said, somewhat in surprise. "I am, but they didn't give me much firearms training. I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, at least not yet." Alex spoke. A good deal of the soldiers laughed at this.

A small amount of time passes. The helicopter must have been going faster than Alex thought.

The land of Hoenn comes into view. It looked beautiful. Riley seemed almost taken aback by the epic vista. The helicopter seemed to be flying towards a particular city. "We're about to land in Rustboro City," the commander spoke, "We have to take off after this as we still have orders. You're only 16, this ID I have here says, so you're just a trainer for now. Hoenn regs mean that Rangers are only accepted in 18, so in effect you're just a normal trainer now." The commander nodded towards one of the soldiers. The soldier seemed perplexed at first but quickly caught on to what the commander was intimating. "...Your gun, please." the soldier spoke, Alex did as he was told quite quickly. After all, he was safe - He didn't need any weapons here, right? -

Alex got off of the helicopter. The aircraft took off and headed back where they came, presumably back to Kanto.

Hoenn was a... pretty large Region. All of the Unified Regions (Kanto, Hoenn, Johto, Sinnoh, Almia, Kalos, Unova, etc.) shared a single currency. This currency is officially called Poke, but most people just refer to it as P$ or Pokedollar. Hoenn is a sprawling Region, with a wide variety of pokemon, and people. Alex was in Rustboro City, which was the capital of Hoenn.

It was pretty sprawling, all right, with a lot of people going about their business. '_A bit like Viridian,_' Alex thought. This thought was immediately tainted by his... uncertainty, to say the least, about his home. Alex didn't have any more time to think at this sudden thought, however, as Alex was jolted out of his thoughts by Riley speaking. "_What will happen to me now?_" Riley asked, with a sense of... Alex couldn't _quite_ put his finger on the emotion. Regardless, he replied, "You could stay with me, I guess. It's your choice. I don't real-" Riley interrupted Alex before he could finish speaking. "_No, no! That's fine. I'll stay with you."_ Riley said, somewhat... uncertain in his voice. "That's alright, then. First problem, though, is _where do we go from here?_"

A/N: Was quite a pain getting this one out for you. The action'll be coming soon, folks, don't you worry! xD


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: This chapter is a direct continuation of Chapter 4.

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The cityscape seemed to never end. Of course, it did end - what thing did not have an end, after all? - The watcher smiled at this. He was here for a reason, a very definite reason. He could not afford to risk what he had gained. Just all he had to do was bide his time. Bide his time...

/-/

Alex and Riley seemed to ponder the question for a bit, as they walked away from the helipad. Riley was following Alex slightly behind him and to his left. What exactly would they do? It had been so long, -or at least what seemed a long while to Alex- so he decided to do the only thing he could think of. Go to the Pokemon Center. In Kanto, those places always had free rooms for those who had a trainer liscence, and his Ranger ID counts as his ranger license. But, before he did that, there was something he needed to discuss with Riley...

"Riley," Alex began, "You do realize that you are still a Wild Pokemon, right?" Alex said, speaking quietly so nobody would hear him. Riley seemed to grow more tense at this, and seemingly made a concious effort to be more aware of his surroundings. "Nobody'll know, but it pays to be safe. I don't have any Pokeballs on me, but luckily most Centers have stores in them. With regards to money, well.. It depends if they were paying me or not." Alex laughed.

"_So.. what you are asking me, is that if I would be alright being put in one of those... slave..balls..?_" Riley says over Aura, insulted. "No, no, that isn't the least of it! I don't like the idea of Pokemon being trapped in those things, either! There could be a trainer who misses a throw and accidentally hits you, for example. But it's your choice, either way." Alex says, all too aware and guilty of the fact that he wasn't really giving the poor Lucario a choice. Riley nods. "_Alright._" he says, in a down tone. Alex puts his hand across the Lucario's shoulder. "It'll be fine. Cheer up." Riley reluctantly smiles.

They approached the Pokemon Center. Alex speaks quietly outside the front entrance; "I need you to act like you _are_ a Trainer Pokemon. Just go along with what I say, right?" "_Right._"

The two entered the Center. Alex had seemingly adopted the persona of an experienced trainer. He changed the very way he walked, and perhaps even how he talked. Lucario tried to follow suit as well. He calmly passed his ID to what must be the Nurse Joy of this Center, requesting "One room, please." "How long?" "A night. Perhaps two." After some typing on the keyboard, the Joy gave Alex the keys. To the right of the desk was the shop, and to the left was the hallway which leads to the rooms. Alex managed to buy a Pokeball with what he had on his Trainer ID Card, and then went into the room. 117.

_The key to Room 117's door rattled, and the door opens._

The room looked fairly normal. It had a dresser, two double beds, and a fairly large window. Not to mention a TV that was mounted to the wall inbetween the two beds.. Alex sat down on the bed to the right. The Lucario followed suit, sitting next to him at a distance some might call uncomfortably close. "Riley, what are you..?" "_The ball. Can we get it over with?"_ Riley says, avoiding eye contact.

Alex quickly fumbles in his bag to get the Pokeball, and, with a nod from Riley, catches the Lucario.

/-/

_Pokeball OS V5.01 from Silph Corporation, initializing..._

_Subject matter: Lucario. Gender: Male. Health: 89 per cent._

_Awaiting name input..._

_Registering name, "Riley" to Lucario._

_Assigned Poke ID: #91281029310_

_/-/ _

After what seemed to take a while, Alex immediately released Riley after the capture process was done. The Lucario didn't seem any different, however. "Wasn't so bad, was it?" Alex states. Lucario nods, with what seems to be a small smile on his face.

Alex moves from his sitting position to a lying position on the right side of the double bed. Riley follows suit, lying on the left side of the bed. The television was currently on a news programme; talking about Kanto. God, all they did was talk about Kanto. Kanto this, Kanto that. Alex lived there, for Arceus's sake, and he didn't want the raw emotions being done over again with a rake. But he sat there, lost in thought.

Riley, by this time, had obviously caught on to the fact that Alex was feeling, well, sad. "_Are you alright, Alex?_" The Lucario asked. "Yeah, i'm just.." Alex's answer trailed off. Riley moved a bit closer to Alex. "_Are you sure? your Aura is telling me something's troubling you._" Riley says. Alex turns to face Riley, looking into his eyes. _What is this feeling?_

Without another word, both Alex and Riley started to move closer. Suddenly, their lips met, consumed in a kiss. Alex moved his free right arm to the Lucario's back, to move the two closer. After a small moment, they broke the kiss. "_Alex, I, I'm s-_" he was cut off by Alex. "There's no need to be sorry."

And with that, they fell asleep, together.

/-/

"As you are _all too_ aware, fellow Members of the Board, our attempt at neutralizing Kanto was an outstanding success. Our secret weapon has achieved 99.3% complete human and pokemon biological neutralization! It was almost as if they never existed. We can now safely take over Kanto as planned."

"But what about the people who have been evacuated by the other Regions? Surely they won't pose too much of a problem?"

"No, they shouldn't. We have eyes on around 8 of these people, and if they pose any trouble, we will have no choice but to... _terminate_ them. Any more questions, Hideki?"

"No, Leader. But some of my subordinates have found _plans_. Plans of the rogue division of the Science Wing. We found a location in the co-ordinates to a small, uncategorized island in the Orange Islands. What we found, well... I think this video would describe it best."

Hideki stops speaking and gives a DVD to the attendant. The attendant puts the DVD in the projector, which in turn projects onto a nearby wall. The lights are turned off, and the blinds rolled down. The tension in the room was at a high. "Play it already!" the leader said. Hideki did as he was told.

"Expedition team 5, group 1. We're investigating the co-ordinates we found on the body of one of our scientists. The whole place is fucked." The mercenary's description of the place could not have been more apt. There had evidently been a large fire there, as what was left of the building was singed and broken. There was debris everywhere, indicating a large explosion. The video cuts out.

The next log starts with an altogether more scientific crew, studying the wreckage. One of them finds a notebook. There is only one legible page. "Log 5. Our goal has been successful. It is obeying our orders, for now. Unlike the previous attempt, which, was, wel... we don't talk about it." That was all that was written on the page. The leader frowned somewhat, as if he knew what was going on here. "I need some time to think. All of you who have clearance less than level 5 are dismissed for the day." Almost everyone shuffled out. Except for a select few.

A/N: Hope y'all like it. :D


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Looks like we're here again. Hopefully this will be coming out on the day I started writing it, perhaps around this saturday or next monday. One more thing. We won't be hearing from the Watcher any time soon.

/-/

The door to Room 117 slowly creaked open. Light streamed through the windows in the hallway. It was... early morning. Very early. Shauna wanted to put her bags down in her room before she did some training. Her Arcanine, which was her first, and, at the moment, only, pokemon was resting in his Pokeball. What she saw, however... Well, she didn't see much. only Alex sitting on the edge of the bed looking out of the window, with Riley lying down on the bed next to him. She cleared her throat.

both Alex and Riley almost instantly moved their heads to face her. A magnitude of thoughts were racing through Alex's head. Pokephilia... what they had done, or, _came close_ to doing was illegal. It carried several hefty punishments, but most of all was both a prison sentence _and_ your Pokemon being taken away from you. He stammered out, "How long have you been there?"

By this point, Shauna had her suspicions, but she put them to the back of her mind. "Why ar- oh." she says, realizing now what _was_ happening. "You-re..." They both replied, "Yes." "_Yes."_ Shauna smiled. "It's okay. I won't tell anyone." she says, with one swift movement releasing her Arcanine. both Alex and Riley seemed to ready for a fight, before Shauna closed the door. The Arcanine nuzzled her leg. Affectionately. Perhaps too affectionately? "It looks like we're in similar situations." Shauna says, sitting down on the bed. "Yeah. I just 'moved' to Hoenn, sort of." "Where from?"

"I don't know if I should be saying this, but.. Kanto." Alex said, with a definite sense of certainty. "Kanto... oh. So you're one of the refugees?"

"Yeah, I think the only one. This whole Region is new to me. And to top all that off, I'm... I'm not really much of a experienced trainer." Alex explained. What he said was true; mostly, he had never been outside of Kanto and he had never had a Pokemon before, either, if you discount his Growlithe, which was more of a pet.

"You could travel with me, I guess, for a bit. I suppose I could use the company. I've just arrived from Unova. Hoenn is so...different.." Shauna says. "Unova? How is it there? I didn't hear any news for, well, basically a month before I got here. "Unova, yeah, Unova is fine. A bit shaken up from Kanto, but we have _really_ strict immigration, so I don't think there's any sort of Team Rockets or similar in Unova. Hoenn is just so.. green. Unova is quite built up, although there are a few forests and things. Nowhere near as much as here, though."

"I think I will go with you; I need to train Riley a bit, otherwise we'd be bombarded with trainers that want to have a go, thinking that we'd actually be a challenge." Alex looks at Riley. "No offence." "_None taken. I do need to train._" Shauna looked at the clothes that Alex was wearing. "You do look like a veteran trainer, though."

"Looks can be decieving. I'm as green as they come... In some aspects, anyway."

_Some time passes_

Shauna, her Arcanine, Riley and Alex were all leaving the Pokemon Center together. Shauna was to stay here for another day, and so was Alex. They had a free day today, then.

"We'll leave tomorrow, alright? I have some personal stuff I need to see to. Bye!" Shauna says, as she walks off to the distance. "What do we do now?" Alex asked Riley "_We could train. When we were arriving here, I saw a forest. That'd be ideal._" Riley told Alex.

Of course, they had to be careful about thier relationship. They had talked about this overnight, and agreed that it would be best if they only shown their feelings for each other in private.

Alex and Riley started off in the direction of the forest. They walked across the main road of the town; the roads were quite busy but by no means congested. After a while of walking, they reached the forest. Bird Pokemon were flying in the air, there were all sorts of Pokemon here. They entered the forest. Almost instantly, all the sun was blocked out. Riley started to tense up. "It's alright. There's only Pokemon here." Alex reassured him. Riley wasn't so sure.

/-/

"I'm sure you all know why we're here, gentlemen. This situation cannot be ignored any longer. Too many people have managed to escape Kanto. We have sent... a figure of resolution, if you will, to... sort this problem out. For good."

"What if they don't know anything about us? It'd just be attracting needless attention to us."

"I don't care. I want them dead!"

A/N: I'm going to be taking more time to write chapters in the future. They've been getting shorter recently, and I've been writing them faster.

Expect the next chapter released around the 10th of July. (Earlier if there are reviews! :D)

Thanks for reading, everyone!


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